Agrarian Reform Secretary Virgilio de los Reyes on Friday said Catholic bishops appear to have their own prediction of doomsday—this time on June 30, 2014—the same day the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) expires.

“June 30, 2014 is not Dec. 21, 2012,” quipped De Los Reyes, taunting the bishops calling for his ouster for acting as though the end of the CARP were also the end of the world.

The embattled head of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) hit back at 78 bishops who wrote a letter to Malacañang asking for a revamp of the agency, whose leadership they accused of grossly underperforming in the acquisition and distribution of lands.

The bishops said they were “greatly alarmed” by the dismal performance of the DAR and that the government was “racing against time” in covering and distributing landholdings to farmers before the deadline.

But De Los Reyes said he wished the bishops would stop panicking and imagining June 2014 to be some sort of doomsday date like the widely discredited hoax that the world would end in December 2012 as purportedly predicted by the Mayans.

“The expiration of CARP is not the end of the world, and I hate to say this to bishops,” he told the Inquirer by phone.

Mistaken premises

De Los Reyes said the arguments of the bishops in their Jan. 24 letter were based on two mistaken premises: one, that the government would no longer be able to distribute lands once the agrarian reform law expired; and two, that the issuance of the certificates of land ownership award (CLOA) was still a long way away from the actual grant of the land.

On the contrary, he said the DAR could still continue its role of processing and distributing landholdings beyond June 2014 provided it was able to issue Notices of Coverage to the property in question before the deadline.

Furthermore, De Los Reyes said the bishops were mistaken in thinking that the award of CLOAs would involve “landowners standing guard at the gates” to keep the CARP beneficiaries away, when in most cases, landowner resistance would already have been resolved at that stage.

This, he said, would justify the DAR’s move to include landholdings with CLOAs in the 2012 accomplishment report indicating that the DAR was able to acquire and distribute 116,831 hectares of land that year.

The bishops had wondered how the DAR could have accomplished the processing of 63,251 hectares in the last two weeks of December alone, considering that it was only able to distribute 53,580 hectares as of Dec. 13, 2012.

De Los Reyes admitted that the 116,831 hectares still fell far short of the original target for 2012 of 260,000 hectares (later adjusted to 180,000) but he added that the bishops failed to appreciate the fact that the DAR was already working on landholdings “in the pipeline for the next six months.”

“This means that a lot of what we’re going to distribute in 2013 had their paperwork already completed in the past year,” he said.

For 2013, he said the budget appropriated was for 260,000 hectares, but realistically, De Los Reyes placed the actual target at between 160,000 and 200,000 hectares.

Layers of bureaucracy

The DAR secretary denied that the mechanisms he put in place in the department only added “layers of bureaucracy” in acquiring and distributing lands.

He said the DAR was in the process of reviewing the database of lands “that ought to be covered or ought not to be covered” by CARP.

Based on estimates, more than 300,000 hectares of land will still be left to distribute by the time the CARP expires in 2014, although ideally, all these shall have been issued notices of coverage by then.

“But the balance could in fact be lower than that,” De Los Reyes said, noting that there are landholdings in the database that might no longer be covered by CARP.

He said he wished the bishops did not listen to only one group, the militant Negros Occidental-based Task Force Mapalad, and considered discussing the issues with him first before sending their letter.

De Los Reyes said the bishops were apparently being fed wrong information and he would be more than glad to sit down with them to clarify the issues.

No agrarian crisis

He said he did not feel any pressure to resign, and would leave that decision to President Aquino.

“If the President feels that I’m no longer fit for the job, then I’ll take my things in a milk box and be on my way,” De Los Reyes said.

In a separate statement issued on Saturday, two DAR undersecretaries sought to debunk the bishops’ claim of an “impending agrarian reform crisis.”

Agrarian Reform Undersecretary for Finance and Administration Perry Villanueva said the bishops’ assertion of DAR underperformance stemmed from their “seeming failure to recognize the difficulties of acquiring and distributing almost one million hectares of privately owned lands, now the subject of agrarian reform under the extended CARP law.”

Agrarian Reform Undersecretary for Field Operations Jose Grageda said what the DAR did was to adjust the target for land acquisition and distribution due to the incomplete database, which adversely affected the DAR’s ability to know the actual status of the claim folders.

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mangtom

Itong gunggung na bishops are absolutely nosey, sticking their noses in issues that are none of their business. Why don’t they spend their time on salvation of the soul instead of salvation of their their power and greed? I am sure I am not the only one who is sick and tired of these childish antics of these cone heads.

batangpaslit

read the Book of Revelation Chapter 17….you would find it that the church sitting on seven hills is condemned

http://profile.yahoo.com/VS5EYSP4FPOTVQCJZ24NRE6Z2M Edgardo Mendoza

DAMASO wag mo hawakan ang gobyerno sa leeg cbcp bishops salot

opinyonlangpo

These are the Catholic bishops poking their noses into DAR. In the other article they are meddling with COMELEC. It seems they are now more attracted to politics and government rather than bringing people closer to God. How about distributing first the excessive lands of the Roman Catholic Church to the poor before demanding DAR to hurry up giving lands. These people usually don’t practice what they preach.

boldyak

how about exceesive lands ng pastors nyo?..libre sila?…bwahahaha

opinyonlangpo

Thats like a devil’s laugh. You may be a bishop.

jinx

I salute DAR Secretary Delos Reyes….. ganun dapat, wag magpasindak sa panibagong harassment na naman ng mga talunang obispong to. These sulking bishops howl at the slightest tsismis, or sabi-sabi. They are really becoming a nuisance in this country. And what had we got under the influence of these dogmatic sect? Nothing but poverty and immorality.

Real estate in the Philippines is the most screwed up of any place I have ever traveled. There is no other way to say it.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_TCQMRK4HVOSF2IGML46TAGKMXU Benjamin

The CBCP is indirectly involved with the NPA. Their principles are aligned with the CPP-NPA and their constant meddling in the affairs of the government had made the people turn away from their religion. It is only here in the Philippines where the Catholic Church has continuously meddle in the affairs of the govt. MGA PAKIALAMERO SILA KAHIT NA MERONG SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE!

turin55555

The only similarity that I see between the CBCP and the CPP/NPA is their leaning (concern? passion?) toward helping out the masses. Question is, who among the CBCP, CPP/NPA and Philippine government is really helping out the concerns of the majority of Filipinos so the country could move forward to greater success in a very competitive world?

boldyak

voicing out their concern, if the government consider it positive there is no problem, the problem is the government is very much insecure na kaunting puna, nagwawala agad…hahahaha..sign of insecurity….very defensive…bwahahaha..ayaw mapuna ang kamalian…bwahahaha

ApoLapullapu

Even the Bishops nowadays are tempted to use non-evidence-based positions. That’s the major stumbling block to Philippine progress. Many anti-government criticisms and protests are based on fears, speculations and unfounded conclusions. I would rather believe that the obstacles met by the present DAR Secretary are set by previous Administrations that were not accurate in entering data into the department’s data base. The data base must be cleaned so that the next steps can follow smoothly. I will give Secretary Delos Reyes until December 31, 2013 for another performance evaluation. Let everybody put the target figures in mind. That would be our basis for performance measurement later when we can have an objective variance analysis.

Ang epal talaga ng CBCP. The bishops are sooo fond of using unfounded accusations and hearsay to bolster their arguments. Ayaw gumamit ng empirical data and science. Well, in the first place, the Church’s number one enemy is science anyway; they don’t want people to become educated, so that’s not surprising at all.

Still, it sounds very much like the DAR missed their target. The figures of missed – or balance as they claim – target are too mind boggling in magnitude. Imagine missing out of more than 20 Hacienda Luisita-type of lands/landholdings.

regd

The church own brand of preaching the gospel is descending into utter madness!

PH should write the German Shepherd in Vatican and ask for the REVAMP and complete overhaul of the hierarchy or church royalty in the country. The abuses, misrepresentations, and scaring tactics of the CBCP must be exposed and dealt with. Further, it should state that CBCP is undermining the constituted authority of the government of the Philippines through constant interference and intervention in its processes.

This is not about the Catholic Church. If you do not have any good word/s to write on a particular religion then you might as well hold your fingers on that keyboard. And you know what? The moment you maligned the Pope it is that same moment that he has forgiven you.

Sec. De Los Reyes, Catholics – true ones – do not believe in doomsday. Do your job. You even admitted that you did not meet your target.

Thousands of hectares are missed out. Man, that’s a lot!

wilFired

After that, what next? I will bet , people only sell their land if they get their title,not all of them but that’s reality.

turin55555

The farmers are not allowed to sell lands awarded to them thru CARP. The govt will bankroll the capital needed for them to cultivate the land so that they and the land would remain productive. That is the very essence of land reform.

kidsPorts

Aren’t most, if not all, DAR officials and employees catholics? Why don’t the RCC tell them what to do?

boldyak

di sabihin mo naman na sila na nagpapalakad ng gobyerno?…bwahahaha

ashleybulls

Donate to the bishops land, free of tax and always kiss their hands….:-)

http://profile.yahoo.com/U5MGK6VZTQDQJHZLMPT2QP2BNM CarloT

the media always misinterpret information and facts. “Hello?”
The Catholic Church didn’t claim any exact date of doomsday.
“Doomsday” as they may say is just an allegory.
DAR secretary is so stupid to interpret it as it is.

Sarkasmos

The Church and Catholic institutions like schools, colleges and universities are some of the biggest landowners of this country. I don’t think CBCP has the moral high ground to preach about genuine land reform.

No worries, cbcp is just grandstanding, Pnoy dont give a rat sheeeet about their letter. Reyes, if you don’t do your job well or your well is not enough Pnoy will axe you with or without these grandstanders anyway. Dont waste your time and energy on these cbcp otherwise they are meeting their objective (…papansin :)

vilmavee

De los Reyes indeed has to go. He wants us all to believe that he can deliver the mandate of Agrarian Reform even past the deadline set by the law. Parang siya lang ang nakakaintindi ng Agrarian Reform Law. The Bishops’ concern for asking his removal from DAR is the possible injustice of disenfranchizement of the Land Reform beneficiaries. Cannot his thick head understand that?

The Philippines should stand up against the bishops and confiscate their landholdings and give it all to the poor! This is the rigtht things to do! Right now they are making so much money using those lands to establish companies and schools that charge exorbitant fees. where is the justice in that? If we can free those lands to poor Filipinos, there will be onlyfew people who would go hungry. Then we can start with the private holdings of other landed Filipinos.

The CBCP should be more concerned about the decaying morality and faith of Filipinos – that is their domain and for which they are accountable. They keep prying into areas that are not their field of expertise. If they really think that they are better at governance, they why don’t they resign their calling and freely enter politics? Aren’t they among Filipinos with confused notion of role in society?

Be careful now Bishops. Noynoy’s mother Cory had no misgivings about killing farmers in Mendiola or elsewhere. Bishops who are wearing white make for easy targets even from afar. Noynoy has completely lost it. Be careful now Bishops.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_3TWVIBNBHJIBKXLUC5IT2JYM5E Harry

Could it be more lucrative if the department more slowly? Could it be that the bishops know more about dealings in the DAR than the ordinary citizens?

boldyak

halos lahat ng lugar may parish priest, and these priest know the real situation of the community, which in turn they inform the bishops….CBCP knows more than the government what is the real situation…and they are concern on what is happening, they can not just keep quiet if they could make the difference by advising the auhorities concerned, di tulad ng iba jan na basta makapagbayad ng ikapo ayus na…bwahahaha

If the Catholic Church, or the CBCP in particular would really like to uplift the quality of life of the less fortunate Filipinos, then all the Catholic Hierarchy has to do is sell their vast land holdings and distribute the proceeds to the poor, or provide houses and food to the beggars, vagrants, and mendicants that abound in the church premises every day and most especially during Wednesdays and Fridays. Instead of condemning and judging the people in the government, why don’t you CBCP show they way .. . . .. you are demanding transparency from the people running our country, then your flock is also demanding the same from you. Where does the proceeds of your collections go? the dividends earned by the millions of investments of certain archdiocese in business ventures, are they used to really help the poor? when some of the archdiocese sold their idle lands to the land developers, did the proceeds benefited the poorest of the poor in your respective parishes?

This one’s subtly aimed at Pnoy. The Damasos won’t stop looking for battleground on which they can challenge the govt., train their medieval guns at it and empty their ammunition. Fortunately for the govt., most of the times the Damasos are off-target.

Agrarian reform on their minds, aren’t these Damasos the nation’s biggest landholders, the prime lot kind? In every town and city in this country, they own the land with the best location. These prime real estate properties are where they build and operate their businesses, tax free. If they cannot offer their landholdings to the DAR for distribution, at least they should pay taxes for it, like we commoners do.

Calling the DAR program a failure, they are aiming their criticisms at the Hacieda Luisita case, include Hacienda Luisita in the equation and you include Pnoy in their condemnation. Subtle, but it shows. That’s where they want their incantations to lead to.

Poor farmers can shout to the high heavens their misgivings about the slow pace of DAR programs, yes, but not them Damasos. You care about the land, give the govt it’s due. You profited from these land, you pay taxes. Done that, well, you can talk about the land you love.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_QNY75VSKM4I35WA2R6Q7B7TZGE RubenC

Let’s accept the fact hat agrarian reform in the Philippines is a failure because it was doomed to be. Properly and sufficiently supported, the Philippines would now have been self-sufficient in food supply 20 years ago.

http://profile.yahoo.com/AX6JJVDK2YVZ56DN4TTOMJFRHI Doods

I second the motion of what you said Jack.
Unahin muna nilang linisin ang bakuran nila bago pumuna sa iba….poor bishops…lol…

Pitbulldog

DAR, stop dilly dallying in the implementation of the HLI ruling. We know that you are in cahoots with the palace clown, P-noy, to delay as much as possible the distribution of the lands till kingdom come. Paliguy liguy pa kayo sa walang kwentang mga gimik. Ubos na buhok ng amo mo wala pa ring malinaw na implementasyon ng land distribution ng HLI.

Paliwaweng

it would not be a surprise when a day will come that a great number of bishops will join the fray in politics.

Running for congressman, senator and even for president. From their latest political conundrum, it is not implausible.

The Roman Catholic Church of the Philippines and most of its bishops are the re-enacting the Inquisition.They excommunicate, boycott, jail shoot anyone who criticize, (Jose Rizal and Celdran) well-paid propaganda machine (mitsubishops), rapes our youth and getting away with their crimes, threatening the government with political blackmail.

DAUGHTERS OF CHARITY OF ST. VINCENT DE PAUL PHINMA Corp. (PHN) 159,575 19th PHP2.12 Million

ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF THE DIOCESE OF JUAN DE DIOS PHINMA…

ztefertilizerscam10

The Catholic sex abuse cases are a series of convictions, trials and investigations into allegations of child sexual abuse crimes committed by Catholic priests and members of Roman Catholic orders against children as young as 3 years old with the majority between the ages of 11 and 14

ztefertilizerscam10

Priest who had sex with boys now tells how to smuggle ivory

National Geographic‘s new issue exposes the ivory business, which has been hiding in plain sight since a worldwide trade ban was enacted in 1989. And a major player in the magazine’s story is a priest in the Philippines whom I wrote about in 2005 when investigating another global-trafficking phenomenon — the Catholic Church’s movement of sexual abuse suspects across international borders to escape justice.

The priest, Monsignor Cristobal Garcia, is now quoted as explaining how to smuggle ivory into the United States:

“Wrap it in old, stinky underwear and pour ketchup on it.” And if an icon won’t fit in a suitcase? Here’s how

National Geographic‘s Bryan Christy summarizes Garcia’s advice: “I might get a certificate from the National Museum of the Philippines declaring my image to be antique, or I could get a carver to issue a paper declaring it

to be imitation or alter the carving date to before the ivory ban.”Garcia also made provocative comments when I interviewed him about why he fled the U.S. in 1985. He admitted having sex with altar boys and supplying them with drugs

The Catholic sex abuse cases are a series of convictions, trials and investigations into allegations of child sexual abuse Crimes committed by Catholic priests and members of Roman Catholic orders against children as young as 3 years old with the majority between the ages of 11 and 14.

EOJ

This is clearly a delaying tactic by the bishops so that the
processing of the papers to the beneficiaries of hacienda luisita will
be delayed.

If a new dar sec. is appointed, the processing of papers will be
delayed and then they will blame pnoy if the distribution of land at the
HLI is not done.